


at christmas, all roads lead home

by ventmethis



Category: That '70s Show
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Eve, F/M, Fluff, Gifts, Girlfriend, Love, boyfriend - Freeform, dance, he loves her, jackie is sad, literally nothing but fluff, really just hyde being the best boyfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:28:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28020033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ventmethis/pseuds/ventmethis
Summary: Hyde knows this is Jackie's first Christmas without her parents and it's their first Christmas together and he does what he can to make sure it's a good one for her.Set during season 6 episode 7 titled "Christmas"
Relationships: Jackie Burkhart & Steven Hyde, Jackie Burkhart/Steven Hyde
Comments: 15
Kudos: 64





	at christmas, all roads lead home

**Author's Note:**

> Probably not the most accurate timeline, as I figure there was probably a Christmas during season 5 without her parents and that would be their first Christmas together, but he won't get to see so in my head, this is their first canon Christmas together. 
> 
> I dedicate this to my besties - Mara, Mands, Ava, Nicole, and Caro. 
> 
> Also a special shoutout to Mara for always helping me with my fic ideas and pushing me to be a better writer. 
> 
> Happy holidays, my friends. <3

Hyde wanted to tell Jackie no to the Christmas Eve dance and stick with it. But he knew once she asked, he couldn’t actually say no. He says no, at first, because it’s a natural reflex when people ask him for favors – but he doesn’t mean it.

The problem is that he knows it’s Jackie’s first Christmas without her parents. Typically, he wouldn’t admit to caring about things like this, but Jackie is his girl and he knows what it’s like to spend big holidays without your parents, especially when it’s because said parents don’t care enough to spend it with you.

And Jackie is an emotional girl. She gets attached to these things and she gets sad easily and he knows it’s gonna be hard for her and that he’s gonna end up spending all his time with her to keep her mind off of it. He’s already planned it all out.

So when she asks and he says no, he sticks with it at first but once she gives him the puppy dog eyes, he cracks. Later he tells her she didn’t have to beg, he was gonna go either way.

It’s the same when Jackie asks him to wear the suit jacket and bolo tie, except this time he truly doesn’t want to wear the jacket and tie. But he also doesn’t want to make her sad, so he says yes.

On Christmas Eve, Hyde finds himself standing in Donna’s kitchen waiting for Jackie to come in so they can head to the dance. He’s been standing, leaning against the door for the last ten minutes and if Jackie doesn’t come in soon, he’s gonna piss her off by going to find her and dragging her out.

Hyde wants to get this dance done and over with and in order to do that, they have to actually get to the dance.

But a few seconds later, Jackie walks in in a colorful, sparkly, striped dress. It’s not nearly as extravagant as he’s used to. It’s very simple and natural, unlike the other dances he’s accompanied her to.

Hyde smiles at her from across the room and stands up straight, no longer leaning on the door as Jackie approaches him.

“You look pretty. I mean, you always look pretty. But you look pretty.” He says, awkwardly. He doesn’t often compliment her, but he’s trying to make her night pretty special.

Tilting her head to the side, she smiles and says, “Thank you,” before leaning in to give him a small kiss. As she pulls away, she uses her thumb to wipe away the residual lip gloss that was transferred to his lips. She knows how much he hates when she gets lip gloss on him, which is funny because he always kisses her anyway.

“You ready?” she asks.

Rolling his eyes, he grabs her hand and walks her towards the door. Sarcastically, he says, “Been waiting on you, doll.”

Hyde opens the passenger door for Jackie and then makes his way to the driver’s side.

They don’t make it out of the Forman’s parking lot before Jackie is trying to change the radio station.

Hyde reaches for her hand and pulls it away from the stereo and asks, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Steven, it’s Christmas. We need to listen to Christmas music.”

He shakes his head and says, “It’s not Christmas, it’s Christmas Eve. And not a chance, no Christmas music. I don’t do Christmas music.”

Jackie pouts and crosses her arms, muttering a “Fine.”

Hyde reaches his hand over and taps at her chin in an attempt to get her to look up. “Stop pouting, we’re going to this stupid dance, you can’t pout.”

She knows he’s right, so she stops frowning and scoots closer to him in the car and leans her head on his shoulder whilst he drives.

When they get to the dance, Hyde immediately feels miserable, but he tries not to wallow in it too long. He’s here for Jackie and that’s it. Plus, it’s kind of nice to have her showing him off to her friends to make herself look cool, even though she isn’t exactly being honest about who he is. Either way, he thinks he’s rubbed off on her pretty well all things considered.

The dance goes by much quicker than Hyde had thought it would. He observes his girlfriend as she fake laughs with her so called friends from school and as she gives back handed compliments to her ex-teammates.

Jackie seems to be having a pretty good night – she’s pleased with her time at the dance and she’s more than ecstatic that Hyde agreed to come with her and that she made all of these girls jealous.

But when they’re in the car heading back to the Forman’s, Hyde notices how quiet she is. She’s sitting in the passenger seat, her hands folded in her lap, and she’s looking out the window.

Hyde doesn’t know what she’s thinking about, but the frown engraved on her face makes her look sad. He’s not too good with words, nor is he good at providing comfort or reassurance, so he doesn’t say anything. Instead, he reaches forward and turns the radio to a station playing Christmas music, “Santa Baby” playing softly on the radio.

Neither of them say anything, but he sees the frown lift into a smile and he’s satisfied.

When they get to the Forman’s, Jackie follows Hyde down the outside stairs, into the basement, and into his room. Hyde immediately takes off the jacket Jackie gave him along with the bolo tie.

“Do you want a pair of sweats to wear or something? That dress can’t feel good with all the sparkles and shit.” Hyde says, preparing to pull open one of his dresser drawers.

Jackie shudders and makes a disgusted face and says, “Bleh, no. No way I’m letting you see me in sweats. The dress isn’t the most comfortable, but nothing I ever wear is.”

“Jackie,” Hyde starts, putting his hands on the center of his belt, “we’re not cuddling if you’re in that scratchy dress.”

She scrunches her face up in response and gets up from his cot. “Fine, wait here and I’ll be back.” And then she leaves his room.

Whilst he waits, he moves to the basement and sits on the couch, pulling his legs up with him and crossing them at the ankle.

Jackie goes back to Donna’s and sneaks her way to the room they shared so as not to be coerced into watch a terrible Christmas movie with Bob.

She looks through her clothing for something to change into – something cute but also warm for when she has to walk back later tonight. She’s about to take off her dress and change into the turtleneck and bellbottoms she picked out until another outfit catches her eye.

Jackie then grabs a bag from the closet and puts both of the outfits into the bag and then heads back over to the Forman’s.

When she walks in from the downstairs door, Hyde tilts his head to the side and gives her an annoyed look when he sees her still in her dress.

“Jackie, what the he—”

Jackie cuts him off with a wave of her hand and says, “Oh calm down, grumpy. I brought my clothes, I just decided to pack them. I brought a surprise for you. Wait here, I’ll be back.” And she races off with the bag to his little bedroom in the back.

Confused, he sits in the same position and watches whatever the hell is on TV.

Five minutes later, Jackie waltzes out of the room and perkily skips her way over to where Hyde is and stands across from the couch.

When Hyde sees her, his mouth forms a smile and he shifts on the couch so he’s sitting more upright, one of his legs moving to rest on the floor whilst the other stays on the couch.

“Alright, man. Now do a little spin.” He demands, making a circular motion with his pointer finger.

Jackie giggles and does a twirl in her cheerleading uniform, her skirt flaring up and showing off the green spanx underneath.

“Do you like it?” Jackie asks knowingly, flipping her hair behind her head.

Hyde scoffs in response because he knows she already knows the answer to that and she’s just taunting him at this point. “Love it, Merry freakin’ Christmas.”

“Wanna see the cheer I just made up in my head?”

“Don’t ask stupid questions, Jackie.”

Jackie gives him the same cute smile she always does when she’s feeling extra loved by him. She begins her routine that she actually didn’t make up. It’s purely improv, one cheer move after another and she knows none of it really flows but she doesn’t care. She does a little toe touch to finish it off and then turns and flips her skirt up in the back, once again showing Hyde her spanx because she knows how much he loves it.

Hyde gives her an encouraging thumbs up and a small nod, pretending it’s the best cheer in the world and she makes her way over to him on the couch and plants herself between his legs, her hand resting above his knee as his hands cup her cheeks and he pulls her in for a kiss.

They sit like that for a few minutes, enjoying the silence in the basement and their time together alone, making out the way people would expect two teenagers to do.

It’s Jackie who pulls away first, which is usually how it goes, and she lays her head back, resting it between his neck and shoulder. His left hand moves down to intertwine itself with her left hand and his right hand moves to play with them hem of her cheer skirt.

“Thank you for tonight, Steven.”

Playing it cool, he tells her, “it was just a stupid dance.”

“Yeah but any other day you wouldn’t have come with. And you listened to Christmas music on the drive home. You love me.” She feels giddy and warm on the inside.

“Man, shut up.” Hyde says, moving to kiss the back of her head that’s resting next to his cheek, a contradiction to his words.

Jackie knows he doesn’t say it often, if ever, but it’s written everywhere between the lines of everything he does for her – the small touches, the way he glances at her to make eye contact when she’s talking so she knows he’s only pretending not to listen, and going to the Christmas Eve dance in the outfit she picked out and playing Christmas music for her on the way home.

“You know, I love Christmas, Steven. Like it’s my favorite holiday right after Valentine’s Day, my birthday, and my half birthday. But it didn’t really feel like Christmas this year until today. So thank you.”

Unsure what to say, he clears his throat and mutters out a, “You’re welcome.”

“I know my parents weren’t the greatest and didn’t care much for me or care for my happiness, particularly during holidays, but not having any family for Christmas really sucks.” Jackie expresses. She feels like there’s something stuck in her throat as she tries not to let her voice crack.

Hyde draws shapes onto Jackie’s uncovered thigh below her skirt and responds with, “Yeah, trust me I know. But blood doesn’t really make you family. Your family was there with you tonight. If there’s anything I learned over the last few years, it’s that you can be surrounded by family and parents without having anyone you’re related to near.”

It feels weird for Jackie to hear him talk like that. They talk about their parents more often than Hyde would ever let anyone think, but it still surprises her every time. She wishes he’d let other people see this side of him.

But he can’t, because it always shocks him too. He doesn’t mean to talk about his parents and if he could, he’d avoid it forever. But he knows it helps Jackie feel less alone so he always tries to say something that would provide comfort when she’s down about it.

\---

It’s a little after 11 p.m. and Hyde knows that Eric will be back any minute, knowing Red gets pissed if he comes home after 11:30.

The two of them have been sitting in the same position for the last 45 minutes, watching some movie Jackie put on after she finished talking about her parents.

Hyde could feel her nodding off, so he shifted his body and tapped on her thigh, waking her up before she really fell asleep.

“Come on. Let me walk you home.”

Fixing her hair, Jackie stood up and reached for his hand to drag him up after her.

“Let me go change into my warmer clothes. Don’t need Bob asking me about why I’m in my uniform.” Jackie explains.

Hyde follows her back to his room and closes his door whilst she changes out of the uniform. He contemplates whether or not he should give her the gift he got her now or wait.

As she’s stuffing her uniform into her bag, he decides to do it now. He knows he’s doing it because he doesn’t want her going back to Donna’s and getting sad again and being reminded that her parents aren’t here with her for Christmas and he thinks that once she opens it, she won’t be sad about anything again for at least a month because that’s just how Jackie is. However, if anyone asks him, he’s giving it to her now because he wouldn’t be caught dead giving Jackie a gift in front of anyone, which isn’t necessarily a lie. He can’t let anyone see him getting soft for a girl.

Hyde opens his underwear drawer and reaches underneath one of his boxers for the small box. He has it in his hand when he turns around to face Jackie, right as she’s zipping the bag and pulling it over her shoulder.

“I uh, I got you this. For Christmas. Thought I’d give it to you now, since you’re here or whatever.” He says, handing her the box.

“Ugh, Steven. You should have told me, I would have brought mine over for you too instead of waiting for tomorrow.”

“Just shut up and open it, I’ll wait for tomorrow for mine.”

Jackie smiles at him and kisses his cheek before pulling the top off of the navy-blue box. Her eyes widen as she looks in at the golden chain necklace sitting on top of white stuffing.

“Oh my god, Steven,” she begins as she pulls out the necklace. The chain is simple, a small crisscross design, but in the center of the necklace hangs a small capital ‘S.’ Her eyes tear up and she tries hard not to cry in front of him.

“You’re always bitchin’ about boyfriend’s getting stuff for their girlfriends. And disclaimer, I strongly disagree, but I had the money for it so it’s really nothin’. The ‘S’ is for—”

“Steven. I get it.” She says, already latching the necklace onto herself around her neck. “Steven, I love it. It’s so pretty and gold and boyfriend-y.” She moves the two steps it takes to get to him and throws her arms around his neck and kisses both cheeks before planting a kiss on his lips.

“This is the best Christmas, ever!” She exclaims excitedly, looking down at the ‘S’ dangling directly below her collarbones.

“Merry Christmas, Jackie.”

\---

The next day, Hyde is standing in the kitchen with Red and Kitty, leaning back against the wall with a coke in his hand, when Donna, Bob, and Jackie walk in the sliding door, each of them holding a different dish for the Christmas dinner.

He looks at Jackie and sees the big smile on her face as she sets the food she’s holding down the table. She’s wearing a black long sleeve turtleneck with a denim dress over it. He can see the necklace all the way from where he’s standing, and he smiles seeing his own initial hanging from her neck. He thinks she’s the prettiest girl he’ll ever see. 


End file.
